With Alberta’s history deeply entrenched in agriculture, it is no surprise that many immigrants settled in the province in the hopes of owning farmland. Though many Swedish immigrants first settled in the United States with the same intention, they would eventually travel north in the 1870s to engage with Canadian policies which made prairie farmland…

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Built circa 1908, this hand-cranked washing machine is a significant feature of the Heritage Museum’s Chinese immigration exhibit, as it highlights a history of Chinese laundries prior to a modern era of automatic washing machines. Following an influx of Chinese immigrants who sought employment as laborers for the Canadian Pacific Railway, the establishment of hand-laundries…

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An outcome of 18th century agricultural innovation, the barrel churn, such as the one pictured here, was used extensively by farmers in the process of butter-making. A crank attached to the side of the barrel would have turned a paddle device within the churn or the barrel itself to separate fat from buttermilk, eventually resulting…

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Next Tuesday, February 12th, is Canada’s Agriculture Day and we wanted to share an example of one of the many agricultural tools that has stood the test of time. We are happy to say that many of the items in our collection have aged very well and considering this hand-powered centrifugal seeder could date back…

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